The world's biggest T20 league IPL is starting with great pomp and show from Saturday. Now in this 65-day long cricket festival, there will be a shower of fours and sixes and thunderous applause from the audience. The first match of the 18th season of the league will be played on Saturday between defending champions KKR and RCB at Kolkata's Eden Gardens. In this edition, the old stars will try to show their strength, while some youngsters will also show their claim for the national team with their brilliance. So get ready... for the great battle of 10 teams... The new winner will be decided on May 25 after 74 matches in 13 stadiums.
The first match is between Kolkata and Bengaluru.
This time in IPL, there will be new captains along with many teams, so new rules will also be implemented, teams will also be changed and emotions will also be at their peak, only the shine of IPL will not have changed. During this time, 12 double-header matches will also be played. Day matches will be played from 3:30 pm and evening matches will be played from 7:30 pm. However, there is a possibility of rain on the opening match to be held on Saturday. Despite this, there is full preparation to add a tadka of entertainment to the color of cricket.
A reverse swing will be seen.
The most important change in IPL-18 has been made by removing the ban on saliva. After the consensus in the captains' meeting, bowlers will now be able to use saliva to shine the ball in the IPL. This will be the first occasion after the Corona period when bowlers will be able to use saliva for reverse swing. Now it remains to be seen whether this time huge scores will be stopped based on reverse swing or a score of 300 will be seen for the first time.
The ball can be changed in night matches.
Apart from saliva, in other changed rules, the umpire will also have the right to give a second ball. In matches played in the evening, if the umpires feel that dew is affecting the game, then they can allow the use of a new ball from the 11th over of the second innings. This rule will not apply to matches starting at 3.30 pm. Apart from this, teams can also use the Decision Review System (DRS) for height and offside wide. However, the impact player rule will remain the same as before.
All eyes on 13-year-old Vaibhav
13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, exactly 30 years younger than Dhoni, will also be a part of the IPL this time. He is associated with Rajasthan Royals. It will be interesting to see how many matches he gets to play. Suryansh Shedge, who played an important role in helping Mumbai win the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will shine for Punjab. Priyansh Arya, who hit six sixes in one over in the Delhi Premier League, will also play for Punjab.
Many new captains will show their strength.
This time many teams will contest the title with new captains. The surprising name among them is that of RCB's Rajat Patidar. Axar Patel will captain the Delhi Capitals, while Shreyas Iyer, who made KKR the champion in 2024, will take charge of the Punjab Kings this time. The captaincy of the Kolkata team has been handed over to Ajinkya Rahane. Rishabh Pant is the captain of Lucknow Super Giants this season.
Dhoni, Virat, and Rohit will also shine.
This time the glory of the old stalwarts will also be seen. Dhoni, who has played 264 IPL matches, will grace Chennai, Virat, who has played 252 matches, will grace RCB and Rohit Sharma, who has played 257 matches, will grace Mumbai. Rahane, who has played 185 matches, Ashwin, who has played 212 matches, Manish Pandey (171 matches), and Ravindra Jadeja (240 matches) will also shine.
New coaches and support staff also joined.
Many teams have also made changes in coaching and support staff. Ricky Ponting has left Delhi and become the head coach in Punjab. Hemang Badani has been made the head coach of Delhi. Pietersen has been made the mentor of Delhi. At the same time, Rahul Dravid has returned to Rajasthan as the head coach. Dwayne Bravo will be the mentor of KKR. Dinesh Karthik has become the mentor of RCB.
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